Management Vs Leadership

...

Sales (2015) defines leadership as an ability of either one or a group of individuals to be able guide and influence other members of the business. It involves the making of what may sometimes be difficult but sound decisions, establishing goals that are achievable, setting out and creating a business vision. A good leader must be able to provide those who follow him/her the necessary means and tools to achieve the set goals, leaders are usually; self-confident, communicate strongly and have good ‘management’ skills. A good leader must be willing to take risks, must be open to change, react in time when need to and most importantly have endurance in the face of failure (Sales, 2015).

A leader must be able to rise in times of business crisis, he/she must have the ability to think creatively in a tense and difficult situation, a leader balances the conflicting interests of all the people that are involved in the business (Glen, 2017). A leader is the central person that guides the group, no one single trait can be attributed that adequately separates leaders from non-leaders (Quality management principles (2015). The huge debate around leadership is whether they are born or are made?, and the simple answer to this is both, let us say for instance one is a leader of a military unit or business and that one achieves their leadership goals it is unlike that a person would be born with all the needed facets to lead is impossible to comprehend (Popovici, 2012). Predpall (1994) asserts that a good leader must let the vision lead the way, goals, strategies, and values should guide the actions and behaviours of his/her subordinates not necessarily him attempting to control other.

A group is a number of people located together, when more than two people come together in order to establish a task, leadership emerges. It takes three factors for there to be leadership, the first is the group, there must be a group that one leads in order to be considered a leader either one member or more can perform the leadership function. The second is the environment, dependent on the resources available and the requirements of the situation inclusive of time, people and material available and lastly, the task in which the group engages also plays a vital role when it comes to leadership, it is from this perspective then that one can view leadership as the property of a group (white stag).

Principles of leadership (2017) provides some vital functions that a leader must perform in the role which they possess; the leader must be an authority figure what this entails is that he has the right to make decisions. A leader must be responsible, when it comes to assigning who does what, when, where and why in order to achieve the business goals the responsibility rest on the leader’s shoulders. Accountability is the final function of a leader; he/she must be able because of the position they hold they must be able to accept success or failure regardless of what comes. Imagine sitting on a three legged stool, all three legs are need for the stool to balance, so one needs all three key functions in order to be an effective leader.

Bennis (ND) enforces that leadership can be felt throughout the whole business, it empowers the work force giving them energy and pace. When a business has effective leaders that are empowered people feel significant in that they all contribute to the bottom line of the company be in small or big (the contribution). Leaders must value leaning and the mastering of a task, this will encourage his/her subordinates to do the same, it us up to the leader to make it clear that there is no such thing as failure but only mistakes from which feedback is received and acted on in future.

As discussed earlier where there is a leader there is a group or team and this instils a sense of unity, regardless of who is in the leadership position these people working together to achieve a common goal gain a sense of community and work for each other and this in turn makes work far more enjoyable, when a leader is at the forefront of everything an organization does the work challenging, fascinating and stimulating, it is important with leadership to remember to ‘pull’ instead of ‘push’. When a leader “pulls” he influences and energizes the rest of the people, to believe in his vision, these people are then motivated through the identification with what they are doing rather than by rewards and punishments (Bennis, ND).

Having discussed in detail about management and leadership one can notice some similarities as well differences when it comes to the two business functions. Management and leadership are two notions that are interchangeable. However, the concepts are different, the main difference one can note is that being a manager or management is a career, while leadership could be considered a calling whether one is a born leader or a taught one. A leader is followed naturally through peoples own choices sometimes not, whereas a manager is someone you must obey, a manager can get their position of authority through time, experience and loyalty to the company and not necessarily because of their leadership skills and on the other hand a leader may have no organisational skills, but his drive, his will and his vision could bring the people in the business together (Popovici, 2012).

Popovici (2012) states that a manager has subordinates, he provides directions to actions and makes decisions during endeavours. While, a leader is a person that accepts others and their consequences, he/she is usually a model that guides. Management is the directing and controlling of someone or something to do something to the best of their abilities to achieve a goal. Whereas leadership is the ability to influence, make other follow and the ability to guide. A leader is seen as a personal trait, not all managers can be leaders or all leaders being managers. However, work is made better by managers while good things are made by leaders.

Kotter (2001) states that managers are individuals who are assigned managerial tasks and these people achieve the business goals through their functions; budgeting planning, staffing, organizing, and that a leader motivates, inspires and sets direction and puts people in line. Other literature on the same states that a manager consults, is analytical and deliberate in his action, and usually stabilises the organisation. A leader however has “soul” he/she possess the passion and creativity while a manager has the rational and the persistence to attain the goal (Capowski, 1994).

Based on the above leadership is an underlying business function, even in an area where the is a request of a managerial nature, there is till need for a leader to move the team forward. Leaders are at the forefront seen